Iraq: 24 dead including US soldier

Published September 16th, 2005 - 16:49 GMT

A suicide car bomber struck as worshippers were leaving a Shiite mosque in a northern Iraqi town Friday, killing at least 12 people. 12 other people w

A suicide car bomber struck as worshippers were leaving a Shiite mosque in a northern Iraqi town Friday, killing at least 12 people. 12 other people were killed across the country in a number of incidents.

The bombing at the Hussainiyat al-Rasoul Mosque in Tuz Khormato, 130 miles north of Baghdad, killed 12 people and injured 21, said police Col. Sarhat Qader. According to The AP, police subsequently captured a young man wearing a suicide bomb belt and heading toward a second mosque in the town. Authorities said the man was a Saudi citizen.

In other violence, gunmen opened fire on day laborers in the capital, killing three and wounding a dozen.

A car bomb also detonated near an Iraqi police patrol in Haswa, near Baghdad, killing three officers and wounding four, police Capt. Muthana Khalid said.

And in the Iskandariya district, 30 miles south of Baghdad, gunmen broke into the local mayor's house and shot him to death after first killing his four bodyguards, police Capt. Muthans Khalid said.

In the capital's Shiite district of Sadr City, gunmen assassinated Sheikh Fadil al-Lami, the cleric at Imam Ali mosque, said police Lt. Col. Shakir Wadi. Police also discovered the bodies of three people, including an Iraqi soldier, in the district, Wadi said.

The U.S. military also said Friday a Marine had been killed near Ramadi.